The Kings can never go through the preseason without their Real IDs and sometimes even their passports, and this upcoming exhibition schedule, released Friday, will be no different with seven games in seven different locales.
There’ll be no exotic excursions (Australia in 2023 was their latest NHL Global Series trip) or homecomings (last year they traveled to Quebec, the native province of Phillip Danault and Luc Robitaille), but the Kings will chart new territory with a game in Boise, Idaho, this year.
They’ll face the Utah Mammoth in that affair and another in Salt Lake City, in addition to traveling to Vegas to face the Golden Knights. Both Salt Lake City and Las Vegas were once home of the Kings’ exhibition Frozen Frenzy game, and today they both host NHL franchises full-time.
The Kings will also confront the Ducks four times, once each at Honda Center and Crypto.com Arena, with the increasingly traditional Empire Classic unfolding in Ontario again and the clubs squaring off in Bakersfield.
In what could be the final season of captain Anže Kopitar’s career – he’s done more than hint at a potential retirement, though new GM Ken Holland told Hockey Royalty he’d love for Kopitar to extend his career-spanning tenure in black and silver – the Kings have plenty of aspirations as well as questions to answer.
That’ll begin in the preseason, with the first peek at what Holland, who won four Stanley Cups with Detroit and took Edmonton to the 2024 Final, has imagined or reimagined for the Kings.
While his first summer on the job has yet to truly take shape, it’s safe to say some significant changes are afoot. The preseason will also provide a glimpse at the Kings’ newly bolstered goaltending stable and their top skating prospect, Liam Greentree, who has established himself heads and shoulders above the rest of the Kings’ crop.
Erik Portillo, a Swede who played college hockey for the Michigan Wolverines, was dubbed the starter of the future when he was acquired via trade from the Buffalo Sabres. But mixed form and a serious back injury inhibited his first full pro season in the American Hockey League, albeit one that also included a resplendent debut against the Ducks in his lone NHL appearance.
Meanwhile, 2024 second-rounder Carter George and 2023 selection Hampton Slukynsky raised their profiles considerably, with George making Team Canada for the World Junior Championships and Slukynsky winning a national title with Western Michigan.
Greentree was the Kings’ first selection (26th overall) in last year’s draft as they traded back (allowing them to draft George) and still got their man. In his junior season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires, Greentree reinforced the Kings’ belief in him, pursuing an average of two points per game during the regular season (119 points in 64 games) and eclipsing it in the playoffs (24 points in 11 games).
KINGS 2025 PRESEASON SCHEDULE
Sept. 21: vs. Ducks, 3 p.m., Toyota Arena, Ontario
Sept. 23: vs. Vegas, 7 p.m., T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Sept. 24: vs. Ducks, 7 p.m., Honda Center
Sept. 27: vs. Ducks, 3 p.m., Dignity Health Arena, Bakersfield
Sept. 30: vs. Utah, 6 p.m., Idaho Central Arena, Boise, Idaho
Oct. 2: vs. Utah, 6 p.m., Delta Center, Salt Lake City
Oct. 4: vs. Ducks, 1 p.m., Crypto.com Arena